U.S. Open: Serena Williams, no smiles, 22 winners, easy victory

Serena Williams, a three-time U.S. Open champion playing the tournament for the first time since she had left Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2009 after unleashing an obscenity-filled tirade against a lineswoman who called a foot fault that resulted in Williams losing a semifinal match to Kim Clijsters, took a decisive 6-1, 6-1 win over Serbian teenager Bojana Jovanovski Tuesday night.

It was the final first-round match of the women's draw and Williams dominated from the start. She won 54 total points to 27 by Jovanovski and was ahead 3-0 within the first 10 minutes.

Williams is only seeded 28th because her ranking had dropped so low during her absence from tennis for nearly 12 months beginning in July of 2010 because of, first, a toe injury and then from a pulmonary embolism. But since her return to the pro circuit in an event just before Wimbledon, Williams has gone 17-2 and she is undefeated on hard courts this summer after losing in the first round on the grass at Wimbledon to Marion Bartoli.

In the second round Williams, 29, will play 183rd-ranked qualifier Michaella Krajicek and seems headed for a third-round meeting with fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who beat Johanna Larsson 6-1, 6-3 in Tuesday's very first day match on Ashe Stadium.

-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York

U.S. Open: Rafael Nadal struggles but beats Andrey Golubev

Rafael Nadal, the defending U.S. Open champion and this year's second-seeded player, didn't turn in a starring performance Tuesday night, but he did enough.

Nadal struggled some Andrey Golubev, who was ranked 98^thin the world and who had gone through a stretch of losing 17 straight matches this season. Golubev overpowered the Spaniard in parts of this first-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium before losing to Nadal, 6-3, 7-6 (1), 7-5.

Golubev, who is from Kazakhstan, was leading Nadal, 4-2, in the second set after breaking the Spaniard at love and was making Nadal cranky by pounding winners from both sides and bringing Nadal forward with tricky drop shots.

And even when it seemed Nadal was safely ahead, Golubev struck a service return so hard that Nadal didn’t seem to see the ball. That shot gave Golubev an unexpected early service break in the third set that put him ahead, 2-1, and he eventually was up a double break, 5-2, in the third before errors started happening.

Finally, Nadal finished off the tricky first-rounding with an authoritative passing shot.

“I was a little lucky to win in straight sets,” Nadal said. “He was a very difficult player to play. He played very fast.”

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-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York

Photo: Rafael Nadal returns a shot during his first-round match at the U.S. Open on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke / MCT

Angels face a learning curve in Seattle

The Angels have lost four of their last five games but things won't get easier for them Tuesday in Seattle since they'll be facing a pitcher in Mariners rookie Anthony Vasquez whom they've never seen before.

"We have video on him. We know what he likes to do," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. "There's a little bit of a learning curve when you get in the batter's box. But you don't have time to think about too much. You've got to go up there, see a good pitch to hit and square it up.

"This is definitely a guy you don't want to do too much with. We're going to have to really stay centered on this guy."

Vasquez, a left-hander, is a soft tosser who changes speed. He was 9-10 with a 3.57 earned-run average in the minors, splitting his time between double A and triple A. He beat Cleveland in his big league debut last week, going 5 1/3 innings and giving up five earned runs on nine hits. But familiarity doesn't always bring comfort or success for a hitter, Scioscia said. The Mariners are starting Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez on Wednesday and even through the right-hander is 4-9 against the Angels lifetime, Scioscia said it's not a matchup many hitters are looking forward to.

U.S. Open: Novak Djokovic wins easy opener; Donald Young too

Novak Djokovic, owner of a 58-2 record this year, was able to get in and out of the first round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday with little trouble. His Irish opponent, Conor Niland, was ill with food poisoning and the precision shots of top-seeded Djokovic did not make Niland feel any better.

After losing 11 of 12 games,  Niland bent over and then shook his head and Djokovic's hand and retired, a 6-0, 5-1 loser. Djokovic  spent only 44 minutes on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court, a circumstance that did not bother the world's No. 1.

"I don't think I'm lacking any time on the court or matches. This year has been a very long year. So I really don't mind that I spend less time on the court," the 24-year-old Djokovic said.

"I think I played well for these [44] minutes that we had.... I felt great on the court and that's something that's really important for the start of the tournament."

Djokovic had withdrawn from the final of the last tournament he played before the Open, complaining of a sore shoulder. "After that," Djokovic said, "I took some time off and I did everything in order to recover. Today I didn't feel any pain. I served well and I played well so I have no concern."

Donald Young, the 22-year-old American who had gotten in some trouble earlier this year when he sent an obscenity-filled Twitter message expressing displeasure when he didn't get the U.S. wild-card berth into the French Open, played his way into the second round of the U.S. Open. Young achieved a tidy and confident 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Lukas Lacko, a 23-year-old from Slovakia who had gotten into the main draw as a lucky loser (the highest-ranked loser in the final round of qualifying who earns a berth when someone withdraws after the main draw is made).

Young had lost in the first round here the past three years, a trend he said was troubling. "This is my favorite event," he said. Young said he arrived here with more confidence after he advanced this summer to his first ATP Tour-level semifinal, in Washington, D.C.

"To win four matches at that level was great," Young said. "It made me really feel like after all this time that I really belonged and could beat the guys on a consistent basis."

Young will likely get a much tougher test in the second round when he meets 14th-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.

-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York

UCLA football: Neuheisel to name starting QB Tuesday afternoon

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel said he will name a starting quarterback late Tuesday, though the Bruins are likely to play both Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut against Houston on Saturday.

Neuheisel said that he wanted “to talk to those kids this afternoon and tell them what my plan is.”

Asked why he didn’t keep Houston guessing up until game time, Neuheisel said, “I wasn’t doing it to befuddle Houston. I was doing to get the most out of these kids and I don’t want it to be a distraction as we get closer to game time.”

Houston, though, was a bit befuddled.

“They have us practicing a lot of different things with the two quarterbacks,” Houston Coach Kevin Sumlin said. “It keeps us guessing.”

Sumlin will get to stop guessing sometime Tuesday.

“You know, whoever lines up, we’re going to have to go out and defend against them,” Sumlin said.

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-- Chris Foster

Photo: Rick Neuheisel. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times.

U.S. Open: Caroline Wozniacki wins one, talks Rory McIlroy too

Caroline Wozniacki has won six tournaments this year, is ranked No. 1 in the world and is the top-seeded women's player at the U.S. Open.

But after she won her first-round match Tuesday, with no trouble, 6-3, 6-1 in 1 hour, 20 minutes, over Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain, Wozniacki had to deal, as usual, with explaining why it is she is No. 1 yet hasn't won a single major championship, even in the last couple of years when Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters, have been mostly injured.

"I won six tournaments this year already," she said. "I should definitely not be complaining. I'm in a good position, I'm in a good spot. I'm happy, healthy and I can go out there and compete. That's what's most important.

"You know, I know that everyone has to write their stories but I think ... we should move on. Ask me about something else, something more interesting."

Well, then, there is her new boyfriend, the Irish golfer Rory McIlroy. It was pointed out to Wozniacki that McIlroy has won a U.S. Open.

"I'm definitely trying to keep up," the 21-year-old Wozniacki said. "I'll do my best but I have six tough matches to go. You know, he has something I'm looking for. He wants to be No. 1. So it's good to have something on each other."

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-- Diane Pucin in New York

Photo: Caroline Wozniacki. Credit: Mike Groll / Associated Press.

U.S. Open: Sabine Lisicki wins way to play Venus Williams

Sabine Lisicki, the 21-year-old German who made it to the Wimbledon semifinals this year, almost didn't make it to the U.S. Open. Lisicki, seeded 22nd, won her second title of the year in Dallas over the weekend and couldn't get into New York until 4 p.m. Monday afternoon because of lingering flight delays in the wake of Hurricane Irene.

But Lisicki, playing on the new Court 17, an intimate show court with great noise potential and right in the middle of U.S. Open hubbub, adapted to the circumstances of her late arrival and new surroundings and easily beat 125th-ranked Alona Bondarenko, a 27-year-old from Ukraine, 6-3, 6-3.

Next up for Lisicki is Venus Williams, a two-time champion here. Williams had a straight-set victory Monday night in her first match since losing in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Williams, 31, is unseeded.

Lisicki enjoys crushing big serves, same as Williams. And the two have played only twice. Lisicki beat Williams, 6-4, 7-6 (5), on clay in 2009 and Williams beat Lisicki on hard courts in Dubai in 2010, 6-2, 6-3.

"We played twice and twice we had a very, very good match," Lisicki said. "I think it depends who's better that given day and that person will win, I think. That's how it was the last two times. I played better the first time and she played a little bit better the second time."

-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York